Fort Lauderdale parks in every neighborhood will be spruced up, and a modern, high-tech new police headquarters will replace the tired 1950s station, after Fort Lauderdale voters Tuesday overwhelmingly agreed to raise property taxes to pay for two bonds.
Voters in Fort Lauderdale also agreed to overhaul the city elections system, moving the contests from spring to a November general election cycle starting in 2020, to save money and to benefit from higher voter turnout. Charter changes that passed Tuesday also did away with the city’s primary — the only city primary in Broward — and extended City Commission terms from three years to four starting with the 2021 elected officials.
All the measures passed by strong margins. About 64 percent of voters supported the $100 million police bond issue, about 60 percent supported the $200 million parks bond, according to unofficial results Tuesday night.
Turnout was less than 10 percent. About 11,000 voters in Fort Lauderdale participated. That’s out of about 121,000 active voters, according to Broward supervisor of elections data from March 1.
In fliers mailed by Friends for a Safer Greener Fort Lauderdale, funded largely by the development and business community, voters were told that the parks bond would pay for higher seawalls, more parking, upgrades to more than 80 parks — “in every neighborhood” — and more park lighting. They were told the police station has “hazardous black mold” inside and no functional air conditioning.
It isn’t hurricane-strong, and police personnel had to evacuate to the Brightline building in the last hurricane, officials said.
Details of the two bond issues will be ironed out next.
The 1958 police station, at 1300 W. Broward Blvd., eventually will be demolished. But first, a new, four-story station will be built immediately to the west of it. The size and cost have yet to be determined. Where the current station is, a parking garage will be constructed.
An analysis by HDR Engineeering estimated a 168,401-square-foot police building — about double the current size — could be constructed for $68.4 million. A 750-space garage would cost about $18 million, HDR estimated.
City officials said they might not need all of the $100 million.
The parks bond money will allow the city to improve every park in the city and spend $30 million to buy open space in areas that don’t have enough parks.
Both bonds span 30 years. That means some of the parks decisions will be made by future elected officials.
But a parks plan that’s tentatively in place has major improvements coming to Holiday Park, Joseph Carter Park, and Lockhart Stadium. And a new park is planned over the Henry E. Kinney Tunnel, on the north side of the New River off Las Olas Boulevard. The city also plans to create LauderTrail, a seven-mile pedestrian and bike trail around the city.